Motor Racing
18 June, 2024
Chequered flag falls on Bell's racing
After countless races and 24 years on track, V8 truck racer Wes Bell is packing up the helmet and race suit.
At 77 years, Bell decided it was time to drop the chequered flag on his speedway time, opting finally to take life a little slower.
But that doesn't mean he will steer away from speedway completely; he will still be on committee and owns a couple of the trucks he has found drivers for.
"Well 77 is a fair old age to be driving speedway," Bell said.
"There was one meeting I finished last in all three races, and something tapped me on the shoulder and said: 'It might be the time to give it away and let the young fellas have a go'."
His last race was last Sunday at Blue Ribbon Raceway.
Bell did race saloons as a youngster but gave that away for a family and farming.
"Blue Ribbon started to be built and I joined the club," Bell said, referring to he said was about in 1996.
"A couple of years after that, we got into the trucks."
Bell was one of three individuals involved in the class creation of the trucks; along with Shaun Queale and the late Robin Thomas.
"It was just chatter generally amongst the group of us and one of us asked: 'Well, why don't we race trucks?'.
"We all thought about it and Robin and I built one each to see how they would perform and they performed pretty well."
Bell's original truck was Number 11 and a red and white Dodge, but in the last 10 years he has been giving a green and white truck, Number 22.
Finding the trucks has meant Bell has needed to be resourceful, scouring back sheds for potential pre 1975, explaining nothing after that year was allowed to be built.
Bell has raced at his home track of Blue Ribbon, along with in Adelaide, Hamilton, Mount Gambier and Swan Hill.
In the many years Bell has been involved with both racing and speedway, he's had many memorable moments, like the time he crashed at Swan Hill.
"There was a bingle I had at Swan Hill, I flew it in the air and nearly went over," he recalled.
"I wrecked the truck."
He said he's enjoyed the adrenalin and competitiveness on track that has come with racing, but appreciated the fact that that competitiveness stays on the track.
"We are great mates off," he added.
"But we all want to win when we drive through the gate."
Bell made a retirement wish a few years ago to have 10 trucks on track for his final race - and Blue Ribbon were able to facilitate this wish last Sunday.
It was a fitting way to farewell the club life member.
"We were having low numbers and I just wanted more trucks to give them a bit of a kick along," Bell said, explaining his wish.
When asked what retirement looks like for him, Bell was interrupted quickly.
"I'm only retiring from driving," he said.
"I have retired from doing club work or being on the committee, so they will only miss me as a driver.
"I probably will miss driving, but I do own a couple of trucks so I will be doing maintenance on them."
Fans of speedway left comments of appreciation and congratulations on a post on Blue Ribbon Raceways' socials, demonstrating how highly thought of Bell is in the community of racing.
"Congratulations on a great career in racing, all the best in your retirement," Aileen Farnham commented.
"Congratulations on an awesome career (and) all the best," Vanessa Stemm wrote.
The tributes also came from outside of Horsham, with Mildura's Frank Frost commenting: "Congratulations Wes on your years of driving and service to the club" while Bendigo's Neil Watson posting: "Legend!".
One comment from Di Bell, questioned how the former racer would go in the future.
"Not sure how you will go not racing," Di Bell said about her brother in law.
"But what a great way to finish.
"Congratulations on your involvement with the trucks right from when they were introduced at Blue Ribbon Raceway, with the development of rules and specifications."